We had such a great time with last year's inaugural Show Car Shootout Presented by Continental Tire we decided to do it again - but with a couple twists for 2016. For one, we relocated the track challenge to another local ribbon of asphalt, this time Streets of Willow Springs' 1.6-mile, 14-turn circuit in Rosamond, Calif. We also traded in the drag race competition to strap our competitors to the so-called "wind tunnel" dynamometer at World Motorsports in Torrance.

The results were pretty eye opening. While Marco Svizzero's V-8 swapped BMW 135i - with Matt Powers behind the wheel (no, not ex-pro drifter Matt Powers) - won the road course portion for a second year straight, it was perennial favorite Amir Bentatou in his '91 NSX this time who came in a close second, less than a half second off the pace. Jeff Ringer, who we last saw at the 2014 edition of the FR Shootout, rounded out the top three in the Sportcar Motion K24-swapped S2000, less than a second behind Bentatou.

What makes Bentatou's and Ringer's accomplishments all the more impressive is where they ended up in the dyno competition - near the bottom. The NSX put out 321 horsepower and 238 lb.-ft. of torque, which put Amir second to last, while the S2k put out a paltry 235hp and 193 lb.-ft. of torque, bringing up the rear of the group. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Martin Choi's R32 Skyline GT-R made the most horsepower, 511 with 395 lb.-ft. of torque, followed by the Prolific Autosport '14 WRX STI making 458hp and 495 lb.-ft. of torque, and the Six Auto Sounds Genesis Coupe, which output 388hp and 344 lb.-ft. of torque. All three cars are turbocharged, while Alex Zhao's S2000 is supercharged and the K-swapped Sportcar Motion S2000, Amir's NSX, and Kevin Lau's 370Z are all naturally aspirated (Svizzero with his BMW and Arvin Padiemos and Marc Cerezo with their EVO 10s were unable to make the dyno day).

The results speak volumes about power and just how meaningless it is on a racetrack (especially something as technical as Streets) unless you have an ace hot shoe manning the controls. All entries also had new, grippy soles on their shoes courtesy of event title sponsor Continental Tire, namely the Ultra High Performance (UHP) ExtremeContact Sport. Aimed directly at enthusiasts, ExtremeContact Sport rubber received glowing reviews across the board. Competitors lauded the amount of traction in Willow Springs' dry conditions, stickiness that persisted throughout the day. We're pretty confident when the tires launch in February of 2017 they're bound to be a hit.

Congrats go out to all of our 2016 Show Car Shootout contenders - look for additional coverage and our event video to drop in the weeks ahead.

MORE EVENT COVERAGE

The idea of throwing an event dedicated to the wildly popular Rays wheels has popped up more than once around our office. It was only a matter of time before those ideas grew into a full-blown event that took over our office's parking lot